[QUOTE=Mark R;206880]Hi Ged



Yes, prosecuting solicitor J.R. Bishop made 18 mis-statements of fact at the committal proceedings. Wallace was represented by Sidney Scholefield Allan and every time Allan objected to a mis-statement, he was met with disdain by Bishop. Apparently at the time of the proceedings a joke was made by somebody in the court - "Wallace, the chess player, got rid of his queen. Now he's having trouble with a bishop."

Mark, I fully agree with you about Bishop. This guy was a disgrace to the legal profession. He was still apparently misrepresenting facts in 1950. Reading The Cameo Conspiracy and the chapter on the committal proceedings, he treated Kelly's solicitor with the same disrespect and disdain.
However, I don't think he could have got away with such behaviour without the compliance of the Committal magistrates, who also seemed to think the accused was guilty, even before a full trial!
In the Cameo case this was a certain Mr Gordon, whom, I understand, along with Bishop, behaved similarly in the Devlin & Burns case. ( I don't know who the Committal magistrate was in the Wallace case) I heard that Bishop was a very close friend of several detectives, including the notorious Balmer, who handled both of the 1950's cases.